intelligence vs intellect

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#128437 - 05/10/04 12:36 PM intelligence vs intellect
Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4 reebecca stranger
reebecca stranger Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4	What is the difference between the two?

#128438 - 05/10/04 12:54 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 wsieber old hand
wsieber old hand Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 Switzerland	At the risk of getting lost at sea in metaphor, I suggest: intellect is the motor, and intelligence is the power delivered by this motor (for better or worse).

#128439 - 05/10/04 01:42 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4 reebecca stranger
reebecca stranger Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4	Thank You for your reply. It seems to make sense. Where my struggle began from was the usage of the adjectives, i.e. what would be the distinction between say an intelligent person and an intellectual person. How, if at all, does the motor methaphor transfer to that situation? An intellectual person has the ability(motor) and intelligent person actually uses it(delivering the power)? (please excuse the overuse of parentheses and question marks)

#128440 - 05/10/04 02:18 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 jheem veteran
jheem veteran Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 1,475 California	To me, intellectual has a slightly more pejorative connotation to it than intelligent. Interestingly, the etymologies show that both words come from the same verb in Latin: intellect is from the past particple and intelligence is from the present particple. You might want to look at the synonym section of this entry: http://www.bartleby.com/61/84/I0178400.html

#128441 - 05/10/04 02:43 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel
AnnaStrophic Carpal Tunnel Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 6,511 lower upstate New York	Welcome, Reebecca. "Intellect" suggests to me a type of intelligence. You can be intelligent without being intellectual, but not vice-versa.

#128442 - 05/10/04 04:23 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Capfka Pooh-Bah
Capfka Pooh-Bah Joined: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,624 Utter Placebo, Planet Reebok	Oh, I dunno, ASp. I've met a lot of intellectuals who didn't seem to be all that intelligent ... an intellectual will think and think about a problem but may well still come to a nonsensical although potentially strictly logical answer. Welcome, Reebecca. Good question.

#128443 - 05/10/04 08:11 PM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 2,661 musick Carpal Tunnel
musick Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 2,661 Chicago	...nonsensical althought potentially strictly logical answer. Just as a sensical answer may be potentially strictly illogical! ****** I like wsieber's perspective. Neither function on thier own plane without the operation of the other. What one does with either is not (really) part of the difference between them.

#128444 - 05/11/04 12:06 AM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803 Faldage Carpal Tunnel
Faldage Carpal Tunnel Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 13,803	both words come from the same verb in Latin Speaking of double-dipping.

#128445 - 05/11/04 05:07 AM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 wsieber old hand
wsieber old hand Joined: Mar 2000 Posts: 1,027 Switzerland	intellectual has a slightly more pejorative connotation to it than intelligent - Yeahbut, this is a secondary evolution of the word "intellectual", quite separate from "intellect". I even suspect that "intellectual", as a noun, entered English independently from French, whereupon it was devalued by the pragmatists.

#128446 - 05/11/04 06:51 AM Re: intelligence vs intellect
Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4 reebecca stranger
reebecca stranger Joined: May 2004 Posts: 4	Thanks for all your replies. I did try to work from the roots of the word: intelligence coming from the present participle of inter- and legere perhaps denoting the present action of collecting/perceiving 'knowledge', while intellect, from the past participle of the same Latin term, perhaps referring more to the processing of that knowledge that follows its collection/perception... all in all it lead me into a big mental knot and, ultimately, to this board. I would however have to disagree with jheem-based on gut feeling, I definitely would not name intellectual as the pejorative of the two.

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